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EST: 2010: Bookworms will rule the world...after we finish one more chapter!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Author Spolight: Lilly Cain and GIVEAWAY!!

The Crazy bookworm is happy to welcome author Lilly Cain. Today she talks to us about her third book 'Building Magic' and she is kind enough to offer a giveaway. Be sure to enter your e-mail address in the comments to enter yourself in the giveaway!

**THIS POST CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT**

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The Thousand Word Hook – Lilly Cain

Thank you for having me here at The Crazy Bookworm! I’m so happy to be celebrating the release of my third book, my novella BUILDING MAGIC from Red Sage Publishing.

All of my stories begin with a germ of an idea which I write down in the form of a loose synopsis or plot plan. I use this to tell me if I am going in the right direction when I am writing. But with Building Magic I had a bit more of an impetus to getting the first chapter down. I intended to enter the Chase the Dream contest. Hosted by Rachelle Chase and Leigh Michaels, the main point of the contest is to achieve a hook within the first thousand words, leaving the reader – be it general reader, agent or editor – wanting more.

Having a hook isn’t a new idea. In fact it is a common property that each author aspires to achieve. But the contest really drove the idea home for me. Despite the fact that BUILDING MAGIC is the third story I have released, it was the first story I sold and I think that it was my new understanding of the importance of those first thousand words that has enabled me to sell more books.

Here is the last part of that original contest entry. What do you think?

“Yer minutes are up, Tina-Tom. Get back to work.” The smoke-roughened voice of her supervisor cut into her wet daydreams. She lowered the binoculars and closed her eyes for a minute. Why again did I take this job? Oh, yeah, the dream of building something spectacular, from design to nails to sliding glass doors. She sighed and gathered her lunch before standing up on the platform. Regulations said she should be having her lunch on the ground, but she, like most of the Irondogs, occasionally ignored the rules for expedience and love of the heights.

She made her way to the corner of the platform and stepped onto the bare rail. She would have to re-secure her safety straps here, no one avoided that rule for long. For the Hell of it, she raised her binoculars to have another look at the studly bean-counter before she had to stash her stuff and get back to welding on the seventh level. By now he’ll be stretching out his glorious muscles, or perhaps, just perhaps today he’ll give in to a little hedonism and stroke his majestic cock for me.

Instead, she frowned as she focused on something strange. It took her a moment to recognize it. Fire! The man’s office is on fire! Then she realized that wasn’t quite what she was seeing. It wasn’t natural. The fire seemed to be following his gestures, moving with him, no, she realized, it was flowing from his fingertips. He was drawing a rectangle in the air with flames. He finished the last corner. She couldn’t help it. She couldn’t look away. Inside the rectangle a picture was forming.

“Holy shit!” she said aloud. Her mind reeled. As she watched, he reached into the burning picture and pulled…something…through. “What is that?” she breathed. All awareness of where she was and what she was doing fled from her mind. He’s a fucking Harry Potter. She leaned forward, tried to focus, and finally took a step closer. Unfortunately, there was nothing to step on.

So, did it hook you? :)
Thanks again for having me here, and in the spirit of the season (yes I am on a Halloween candy high) I’m going to give away a copy of BUILDING MAGIC to a commenter to this post! Don’t forget to leave your email address to be included in the draw!

Hi Lilly,CONGRATS on the release of your 3rd book BUILDING MAGIC!!! Your original contest entry certainly hooked me, but then you had me with the cover anyways:) I'm sure you have more germs of ideas left to discover for more books.

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Welcome!

Hi! I'm Cathy and I'm the creator of this little space on the internet. By day, I am a Yoga instructor and by night I am an avid reader and a book blogger.

Like all book bloggers, I created this website to have a platform to rant or rave about the latest book I just read, book trends, and more! As much as this space is for me, it is for you! I work to better this little website every day so you enjoy your visit!